About the Play:

Done to Death is a full-length murder-mystery comedy by Fred Carmichael. With its colourful cast of characters playing a skillful and fast-paced game of guess again, Done to Death is a unique comedy that slyly spoofs every mystery plot, hero, and villain from the golden age of film. Five mystery writers wrestle with the problem of writing a television mystery series. All around them murders occur and each writer takes a turn at solving them. Audiences can match wits with the witless and follow clues with the clueless.

Done to Death is a zany thriller that takes place in the late 1960s to early 1970s. It focuses on five world-weary, past-their-prime mystery writers who are hired by a television network official named Joyce Summers. They are brought to an old mansion on Vulture's Vault – a mysterious island in the Caribbean – to collaborate on and write a new murder mystery TV series. Each writer encompasses their own type of writing style. They include a couple who write sophisticated murders, a young author of the James Bond school, a retired writer of the hard hitting method, and an aging queen of the logical murder. But what they all have in common is their habit of conjuring cliché stories that have been "done to death." When real murders start to happen, accusations and hilarity ensue. The entire play is a comic parody of the murder mystery genre, as each writer uses their own style in trying to solve the murders…even as they drop in number. As the bodies begin to pile up, will the murderer be found out before it's too late? Done to Death is sure to keep the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the entirety of the performance.

Done to Death premiered in 1970 at the Dorset Playhouse in Dorset, Vermont by the Caravan Theatre Summer Stock Company. It's been a popular and a favourite play for high school, college, and community theatre productions ever since.

Cast: 8 female, 8 male

What people say:

"Ingeniously packed into the script is a parody of every mystery plot, hero, and villain created in the past fifty years. The story alternates between reality and imagination as five mystery writers wrestle with the problem of writing a television mystery series. All around them murders occur." — Glens Falls Post Star

"Carmichael plays a skillful and fast paced game of guess again with the audience.... Clever and rewarding." — Bennington Banner

About the Playwright:

Fred Carmichael (1924-2009) was a prolific American playwright and actor. After years of touring and summer stock theatre, he and his director wife decided to have their own theatre and moved to Dorset, Vermont in 1949 and began a long running relationship with the Dorset Players until 1976, producing a full season of summer theatre. From the early 1950s through the mid-1990s, he wrote over 50 comedies and murder-mystery comedies many of which premiered at the Dorset Playhouse. It was once said about his plays that "Fred Carmichael is a deft plotter – crucial to the mystery form – but his light touch turns standard whodunits into comedic soufflés."